Obesity in Cancer Survivors on the Rise

(HealthDay News) -- From 1997 to 2014 the estimated rate of annual increase in obesity prevalence was higher for adults with a history of cancer, according to a study published online July 25 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Heather Greenlee, Ph.D., from Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues examined trends in obesity prevalence among cancer survivors by using a population-based nationally representative sample of 538,969 noninstitutionalized U.S. adults. A total of 32,447 cancer survivors were identified, with breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer the most common diagnoses.

The researchers observed increases in the prevalence of obesity from 1997 to 2014, from 22.4 to 31.7 percent in cancer survivors and from 20.9 to 29.5 percent in adults without a history of cancer. The estimated rate of annual increase in obesity prevalence was higher for adults with a history of cancer than in those without a history of cancer. The estimated rate of annual increase in prevalence of obesity was 3.1 and 3.7 percent, respectively, for female and male colorectal cancer survivors; 3 percent for breast cancer survivors; and 2.1 percent for prostate cancer survivors. Colorectal cancer survivors, breast cancer survivors, and non-Hispanic blacks had the highest rates of increasing obesity burden.

"From 1997 to 2014, obesity increased more rapidly among adult cancer survivors compared with the general population," the authors write.